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McDermott promotes 74 to partnership in first post-merger round, adding two London partners

McDermott Will & Schulte has made its first round of partner promotions since its $3bn merger went live, with 74 lawyers made up globally and two in London.

The two new London partners are Pilar Arzuaga (pictured left) and James Dobias (pictured right), both from legacy McDermott Will & Emery, and in the firm’s regulatory and litigation departments respectively.

‘A huge congratulations to Pilar and James on their well-earned promotions to the partnership’, said London managing partner Aymen Mahmoud. Both have built exceptional practices, driven by deep expertise and a relentless commitment to client service.’

Partner promotions are up nearly 35% on last year’s combined figures, when legacy McDermott made up 43 new partners, and legacy Schulte Roth & Zabel made up 12.

The London total, meanwhile, is up on last year, when legacy Schulte promoted one partner in London (funds partner Amy MacDonagh), and legacy McDermott promoted none (having promoted three partners in London in its 2023 round).

To put the London numbers into perspective, 34 partners were made up in New York, 6 in Washington DC, and 5 in Miami. London’s figure of two puts it on a par with the firm’s Milan and Los Angeles offices.

The regional split of this year’s promotions was similar to previous years. The US took the overwhelming majority of promotions, with 65 – nearly 88% of the total, compared with just over 87% last year. Seven of this year’s new partners were promoted in the firm’s European offices, compared with six last year.

The breakdown by practice area was also similar to last year’s, with 37 made up in transactions – fully half of the total, compared with 38% last year. Litigation held steady at 20% of the total, with 15 partners this year compared to 11 last year.

The firm’s flagship health and life sciences practice made up four new partners this year, down from nine last year, while promotions in the regulatory practice surged from just one last year to six this year.

‘Celebrating our people is core to who we are, ‘ firm chair Ira Coleman said in a statement. ‘These new partners embody the bold thinking, client focus, and leadership that power our culture.’

Global transactions practice group head Harris Siskind added: ‘Our enhanced resources are second to none, especially in private credit, regulatory, and investment funds. We’re doubling down on the areas where clients need us most, with integrated teams that deliver unmatched value.’

The new partners are:

Europe

  • James Dobias, litigation, London
  • Pilar Arzuaga, regulatory, London
  • Laura Stammwitz, regulatory, Frankfurt
  • Oscar Arcà, transactions, Milan
  • Nicolò Perricone, transactions, Milan
  • Thomas Diekmann, transactions, Munich

United States

  • Morgan Pollard, health and life sciences, Atlanta
  • Rosalyn Broad, health and life sciences, Austin
  • Ashley Brzezinski, intellectual property, Boston
  • Natasha Dobrott, litigation, Boston
  • Asseret Frausto, litigation, Boston
  • Aly Francini, transactions, Boston
  • Emilie O’Toole, litigation, Chicago
  • Soffia Kuehner Gray, private client, Chicago
  • Terrence Brennan, transactions, Chicago
  • Garrett Kurtzweil, transactions, Chicago
  • Katie Yonover, transactions, Chicago
  • James Grossman, litigation, Dallas
  • Raja Chatterjee, transactions, Dallas
  • Jack Haake, transactions, Dallas
  • Ariel Beverly, employment, Los Angeles
  • Cathy Ren, health and life sciences, Los Angeles
  • Jack Beauchamp, transactions, Miami
  • Brad Burcroff, transactions, Miami
  • Nick Dilts, transactions, Miami
  • Brandon Elliot, transactions, Miami
  • Stephen Pedersen, transactions, Miami

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Kirkland’s new Boston hires lead as Novartis seals $12bn Avidity Biosciences acquisition

Kirkland & Ellis’s  recently hired Boston team has scored a key role advising Avidity Biosciences on its $12bn acquisition by Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

The team, which joined earlier this year from Skadden, is advising San Diego-based RNA therapeutics developerAvidity opposite Covington & Burling for Novartis.

The transaction is due to complete in the first half of 2026, with Novartis taking the group’s Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs) platform for RNA therapeutics, as well as three late-stage neuroscience programs for neuromuscular diseases.

Meanwhile, as part of the transaction, Avidity will separate its early-stage precision cardiology programmes into a new company, SpinCo.

Covington is advising Novartis, with a team led by corporate practice head and M&A co-chair Catherine Dargan and M&A partner Mike Riella, both in Washington DC, as well as New York-based M&A partner Alicia Zhang.

Meanwhile, the Kirkland team advising Avidity includes Boston corporate partners Graham Robinson, Laura Knoll, Greg Schuster and Merric Kaufman, as well as New York capital markets partners Jennifer Lee and Tamar Donikyan.

Robinson, Knoll, Schuster and Kaufman joined Kirkland in May and June of this year from Skadden, where Robinson headed that firm’s Boston office.

The new team has enjoyed a successful few months since joining Kirkland. In June, Robinson, Knoll and Kaufman advised Sage Therapeutics on its $795m sale to Supernus Pharmaceuticals.

This is not the first time the team has navigated an acquisition by Novartis: while at Skadden, Robinson, Kaufman and Schuster acted for German biotech company MorphoSys AG in its €2.7bn acquisition by Novartis.

The deal is the second biggest pharmaceutical transaction of 2025, following Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies for $14.6bn, which completed in April of this year.

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Trio of firms in driving seat on Legal & General’s £4.6bn pension buy-in with Ford

Slaughter and May, Hogan Lovells and Mayer Brown are advising Legal & General (L&G) and Ford as the financial services company assumes control of billions of pounds’ worth of pension liabilities in a deal totalling £4.6bn.

The buy-in is the largest pension risk transfer transaction announced in the UK in 2025 to date, and L&G’s second largest by premium size. It secures the retirement benefits of more than 35,000 members across both Ford’s hourly paid and salaried pension funds.

Slaughter and May is advising L&G, while Mayer Brown is acting as lead legal advisor to the trustees, with Hogan Lovells also providing legal advice to the trustees, as well as advising Ford.

The Slaughters team leading on the buy-ins is led by corporate insurance partner Thomas Peacock and pensions partner Chris Sharpe.

Mayer Brown’s team is being led by insurance partner Tom MacAulay and includes pensions partner Andrew Block.

Meanwhile, Hogan Lovells is acting for both Ford (as corporate sponsor of the pension funds) and the pension fund trustees on benefit aspects of the deal. The team is being led by pensions Edward Brown, with additional support on insurance aspects coming from corporate partners Jonathan Russell and Edward Steward.

The UK pension market has been boosted by recent investments from private capital. In July, Canadian fund Brookfield agreed to buy Just Group for £2.4bn, a deal which Slaughters and A&O Shearman advised on.

A&O Shearman and Slaughters also both advised on Apollo-backed European insurance group Athora’s £5.7bn acquisition of Pension Insurance Corporation Group (PIC) in July.

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Darrois, BDGS and Macfarlanes in the frame for L’Oréal’s €4bn Kering beauty deal

Macfarlanes has joined a roster of leading French firms including Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier and BDGS Associés securing roles on L’Oréal’s €4bn acquisition of Kering’s beauty division.

French corporate firm Darrois is lead counsel to luxury goods company Kering, a longstanding client of the firm, with Macfarlanes handing English law aspects of the deal for Kering.

L’Oréal, which announced its agreement to acquire well-known fragrance line House of Creed from Kering as well as licences for cosmetics from household names including Gucci and Balenciaga, has turned to BDGS for advice.

The deal, which is due to complete in the first half of 2026, gives L’Oréal two 50-year licences to create, develop and distribute beauty products from Kering’s well-known brands.

Darrois’ team includes M&A partners Bertrand Cardi, Christophe Vinsonneau, Forrest Alogna, Laurent Gautier and Cécile de Narp, as well as tax partner Vincent Agulhon and antitrust partner Guillaume Aubron.

Macfarlanes handled English law and IP aspects of the transaction, with M&A partner Harry Coghill and antitrust partner Malcolm Walton leading a team that also includes senior counsel Martha Campbell.

LB understands that French firms Fromont Briens and Arsène Taxand also have roles for Kering.

BDGS is fielding a team for L’Oréal that includes corporate partners Antoine Bonnasse and Jérôme du Chazaud, competition partners Antoine Gosset-Grainville, Maria Trabucchi and François Gordon and tax partner Guillaume Jolly.

LB understands that CMS Francis Lefebvre and 8Advisory are also advising L’Oréal on tax aspects of the transaction. At CMS the team includes partners Bruno Gibert, Edouard Milhac and Xavier Daluzeau, with 8Advisory’s team including Guillaume Rembry and Hubert Christophe.

Darrois has regularly advised Kering in the past. In 2023, the firm advised the global luxury group on its acquisition of a 30% stake in Valentino for €1.7 m.

L’Oréal has turned to a number of leading international firms for advice on recent deals. The company’s largest recent acquisition before this saw Latham & Watkins advise when L’Oréal acquired Aesop for €2.3bn.

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‘Unlocking the full power of our offering’ ­­- Pinsents senior partner on sharpening the firm’s competitive edge

‘We celebrate achieving record revenue in a world that remains uncertain, but we know our market competitors continue to drive performance and that we need to perform and grow,’ Pinsent Masons senior partner Andrew Masraf tells Legal Business.

In Pinsent Masons’ latest financial year, the firm’s revenue grew 4.7% to a new high of £680m. But in a year where this came against roughly static PEP of £797,000, Masraf is fully aware of the gap between his firm and some competitors.

Across the LB100 as a whole, PEP grew by an average of 6.5% to £916,000 and, while smaller firms outpaced their larger rivals, Pinsents’ PEP growth lags the 4.6% average growth across the top half of the table and the 6.3% average growth across international firm peers.

‘Some firms have reported significant growth, whether that’s top line or profitability,’ Masraf acknowledges, adding: ‘I see that as a motivator – it’s within our gift to follow a similar trajectory.’

This disparity with some firm rivals has sharpened Masraf’s focus on searching for levers of growth to enhance performance.

‘There are always opportunities to enhance and refine our practices. When you’ve got 500 partners across 29 offices, those small improvements can collectively yield significant results. We see a lot of untapped potential in our business and markets and we’re going after it.’

‘Some firms have reported significant growth, I see that as a motivator’

Earlier this year Pinsents appointed two new external members to its board: Pippa Wicks, co-founder of management consultancy firm AlixPartners and Marcus Bokkerink, the former managing partner of Boston Consulting Group, to help drive growth across the firm. The pair bring complementary and overlapping skills, according to Masraf.

Next month, Pinsents’ partnership will gather in Barcelona where they will discuss the firm’s growth strategy and listen to external speakers, including a presentation from Rothschild on private equity investment in law firms.

‘It’s a unique two-month period when you can shape the narrative,’ says Masraf, who has just entered the final year of his term. ‘[At the conference] I want to talk about the next three years and the levers of growth we can utilise.’

In practice, these levers will likely involve bringing an analytical rigour to ensuring that each cog in the business turns with maximum efficiency.

In line with the ethos of utilising untapped potential, earlier this year Pinsents formally introduced a new sector – retail, sports & hospitality, to its industry focus mix. The move brings together existing expertise under a clear umbrella that works well with the firm’s footprint, which is spread across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

There will also be a focus on strengthening ‘the finance heartbeat from London’. Earlier this month the firm made a double hire in the capital, bringing across equity capital markets partner Nicholas Holmes from Ashurst and Dinesh Banai from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer to lead the firm’s US securities practice.

‘What relationship with the US do you need to access that share of wallet?’

However, Masraf says the firm is not planning any significant change in its international offering, pointing to its still relative infancy as reason to focus on building up existing offices rather than opening new ones.

‘We’re proud of the European foundation we’ve built from the ground up, but our oldest offices, Munich and Paris are still only 13 years old. We’ve built a platform but would like to see physical growth in Europe to provide the sustainable network for the client base we want to drive.’

Further from home, Pinsents is thinking creatively about how to maximise engagement with the world’s largest economies despite not having a major foothold in either, although it did open a new office in Shenzhen in China in February.

‘We’ve identified $3-4bn of US legal spend from US outbound trade coming into jurisdictions where we have an office. That narrows the question: what relationship with the US do you need to maximise that trading corridor, to access that share of wallet?’

In March Pinsents opened an office in Riyadh to build on its existing presence in the region and Masraf insists the office will be crucial for accessing both China and the US. ‘Saudi Arabia is like the Switzerland of the Middle East. It’s a neutral spot for China and America to meet, you can access these two huge economies without having much of a footprint in either,’ he reasons.

‘You need foundations in those economies but the bigger opportunity is what they are doing elsewhere,’ he insists. That said, Masraf acknowledges that the US remains a ‘big unanswered question’. ‘A US merger might be the answer, but you’d want to be clear how any merger would allow you to maximise a market opportunity.’

‘The single profit pool is a very precious aspect of our structure’

He acknowledges that Pinsents’ single profit pool could make any potential merger challenging. ‘There are regulatory, tax and profit issues that mean putting together a fully integrated merger might be harder, but the single profit pool is a very precious aspect of our structure,’ Masraf says.

While Masraf says the single profit pool reinforces a collaborative culture, it comes with its own challenges: ‘A single profit pool of course brings a degree of financial pressure – everything is integrated, whether it’s accretive to profit or not.’

He is reluctant to introduce a verein, despite noting the differences in chargeout rates between say Poland and the US, arguing that they don’t incentivise referrals or collaborative working. He adds: ‘Maybe you might need a verein to get [a merger] done, but, in my view, that shouldn’t be the end game.’

When asked if he plans to run for a second term, Masraf smiles, deflects and insists it isn’t on his mind. He is focused on galvanising the firm for the years ahead: ‘We’re doubling down on unlocking the full power of our offering and the good news is, it’s within our reach.’

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The £40bn club: LB100 push revenues to new high

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Trading places: Latham real estate head leaves for Kirkland as A&O Shearman sanctions head joins Sidley

Latham & Watkins global real estate practice head Michelle Kelban has left the firm for Kirkland & Ellis, where she will join as a partner in the New York office.

A Legal 500 leading partner for real estate, Kelban has spent more than 25 years at Latham, with expertise spanning the range of transactions, from private capital raising and financing to acquisitions and joint ventures and through to restructurings and workouts.

Her recent experience includes advising Ares Management Corporation on its acquisition of real estate advisory firm GCP International in March, valued at $3.7bn. Kelban co-led on the transaction alongside global M&A and private equity practice group co-chair Alex Kelly and asset management M&A partners Owen Alexander and Daniel Breslin.

Kirkland executive committee chair Jon Ballis said: ‘Michelle is widely recognized as one of the preeminent lawyers in the real estate sector, representing leading private equity sponsors in the full range of transactions involving real assets.

‘We’re very excited to welcome her to Kirkland as we continue to grow in strategically important practice areas like real assets.’

Kelban added: ‘I am thrilled to join Kirkland and its outstanding real assets team. The firm has an incredibly diverse platform for the type of transactions I handle and the clients with whom I work. I look forward to contributing my experience and working collaboratively with the team to help further grow and strengthen the real assets capabilities at Kirkland.’

For its part, Latham too has been active on the hiring front, bringing over restructuring partners, Ryan Dahl, Benjamin Rhode, and Natasha Hwangpo from Ropes & Gray to the firm’s offices in New York and Chicago.

The three bring deep experience advising on complex restructurings, liability management transactions, and distressed M&A.

The hires see Latham continue to build up its restructuring capabilities following the addition of John Sobolewski from Wachtell in January, as well as Ray Schrock, Candace Arthur, and Alexander Welch from Weil and Andrew Parlen from Paul Weiss last November.

A&O Shearman’s US head of sanctions Maura Rezendes has left the firm to join Sidley Austin‘s global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice. Rezendes joined legacy Allen & Overy in 2014 after three and a half years as chief of the enforcement division at the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Two A&O Shearman associates from her team also left to join Sidley.

Commenting on Rezendes’ arrival, the managing partner of Sidley’s Washington DC office, Kristin Graham Koehler, said: ‘Maura’s deep experience and impressive market profile in economic sanctions will help us serve some of the most urgent needs of our clients.’

Rezendes’ departure is the latest in a string of exits from A&O Shearman, which has seen more than 130 partners leave since the merger between legacy Allen & Overy and legacy Shearman & Sterling went live on 1 May 2024.

Of these, 55 were in the United States, with Rezendes the 18th partner to leave the firm’s Washington DC office. Last month, global antitrust head David Higbee left the office for Paul Weiss, along with partners Ben Gris and Djordje Petkoski.

Texas-founded national firm Jackson Walker has hired Phil Kim into its healthcare and life sciences group in Dallas. Kim joins from Sheppard Mullin, where he spent more than four years as a partner, and brings experience advising on a range of transactional and regulatory matters in the sector.

Meanwhile, Blank Rome has strengthened its international trade and national security capabilities with the addition of Kenneth Nunnenkamp as a partner in Washington DC.

Nunnenkamp joins from Morgan Lewis, where he led the firm’s CFIUS working group, and brings expertise in national security, export controls, economic sanctions, trade enforcement investigations, and anti-money laundering matters.

Blank Rome chair and managing partner Grant Palmer said: ‘Ken’s experience in national security and international trade, particularly his nationally recognized leadership in CFIUS reviews and trade enforcement matters, will be invaluable to our clients as they navigate the complexities of foreign investment in today’s global marketplace.’

International trade practice group co-chair Anthony Rapa added: ‘Ken brings invaluable experience across the full range of national security disciplines, including two areas at the heart of shifting geopolitics and trade policy: CFIUS review and trade enforcement.’

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Partners at top Philadelphia firms on the state of play in a burgeoning lateral recruitment market

When Kirkland & Ellis made its debut in Philadelphia this January through the hire of a five-partner mass tort team from Skadden led by prominent litigator Allison Brown, it became the latest international firm to open in a market once dominated by homegrown players.

That move followed similar launches, such as Polsinelli’s opening last summer with 35 lawyers, including 20 partners, from the local arm of Holland & Knight. The upshot is a lateral recruitment market that has rarely been more active.

‘Philadelphia never used to have lateral moves,’ says Barbara Shander (pictured below), private equity partner and co-chair of Goodwin‘s Philadelphia office. ‘It used to be a city where people stayed where they were. That’s changed over the last five years. We’re not where London or New York are, but it started from a very different place. It’s a combination of compensation being more competitive and more firms opening here.’

‘We’re seeing more consolidation of local firms to compete with the larger national and global firms’

Shander’s own career reflects that shift. After leaving Philadelphia stalwart Morgan Lewis in 2021 and spending a brief period at clinical research company WCG, she joined Goodwin in early 2022 – becoming co-chair of its Philadelphia office when it opened in January 2023.

Alongside Shander, Goodwin launched with a 14-partner team from Troutman Pepper, which brought expertise in life sciences, healthcare transactions, and white-collar defence. Among them was Rachael Bushey, a life sciences specialist who now co-chairs the office alongside Shander.

Bushey says the recruitment trend extends beyond newcomers. ‘We’re seeing more consolidation of traditional local firms to compete with the larger national and global firms that are coming into the market,’ she explains.

Lateral hiring heats up

Data from SurePoint shows Philadelphia recorded 45 lateral hires into top 100 firms in 2024 – up from 33 in 2023 and 39 in 2022. While the numbers are modest compared to larger markets, the trend mirrors patterns in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, which each also saw a 2023 slowdown followed by a 2024 resurgence.

New York led the pack with 449 hires last year, followed by 142 in Chicago and 123 in Los Angeles. Philadelphia’s lateral market, according to SurePoint data, is closer in size to Boston, which saw 49 hires in 2022 and 56 in 2023, before numbers nearly doubled in 2024 to 97.

‘The business community is thriving in Philadelphia’

Industry foundations

For Aaron Suh, Philadelphia managing partner at Morgan Lewis, the stability of the city’s key industries helps explain its steady growth.

‘Philadelphia has been a remarkably stable market,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t have the big boom and bust cycles that you see in other markets. One of the shorthand phrases you’ll hear about Philadelphia is “eds and meds.” It’s a big part of what’s put Philadelphia on the map. The market thrives on life sciences, healthcare, and education.’

‘Philadelphia is increasingly recognised as a destination for funding’

Long established local players such as Morgan Lewis and Dechert continue to anchor these industries in Philadelphia by maintaining close ties to these healthcare and educational institutions, as well as to key businesses across the city. But new entrants are keen for the action, with the sectors fueling lateral moves.

At Kirkland, not only Brown but three of the litigators hired since, have a focus on healthcare and life sciences. Similarly, many of Polsinelli’s new partners are sector experts.

Bushey (pictured right) agrees that the strength of Philadelphia’s universities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies continues to draw talent – but she notes a gap compared with markets like Boston.

‘While we have top universities and pharmaceutical companies, we’re lacking in life sciences venture funds in Philadelphia,’ she says. ‘While we have a few in Philadelphia, it’s not on the level of Boston or San Francisco. That used to be more of an impediment than it is now, because Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania more widely, are increasingly recognised as a destination for funding.’

Shander adds that while the city has both local capital and investment opportunities, they don’t always overlap.

‘Philadelphia has some private equity firms that are large and sophisticated, and a lot of my private equity relationships are in Philadelphia. At the same time, most of the funds that are in Philadelphia are here because their founders are Philadelphia-based. Many of the transactions they invest in are outside of Philadelphia, and the LPs are generally not concentrated in Philadelphia either.’

A growing talent hub

But Philadelphia’s appeal lies as much in the city itself and its talent pool as in its business opportunities.

‘Philadelphia is a vital source of talent for our firm,’ says Dechert co-chair Dave Forti.

H. Marc Tepper, Philadelphia office head at Pittsburgh-founded US firm and lobbying group Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, expands: ‘We have some of the best law schools in the country, which means we have some of the best talent in the country. A wonderful trend that we’re seeing is some of our best graduates choosing to stay here in Philadelphia, either with Philadelphia law firms or in the Philadelphia offices of firms that are headquartered elsewhere.

‘The business community is thriving in Philadelphia,’ he continues. ‘That business growth isn’t just in healthcare, but also in higher education. There’s a lot of work that flows from our universities.’

Suh (pictured right) echoes the optimism about the city’s appeal. ‘We’re seeing more firms that historically did not have a presence here open in Philadelphia. Our competition is finding that it can be useful to have a place for talent to reside in Philadelphia, to be a part of their global organisation without being in a permanent remote work situation.’

For more on Philadelphia, see our coverage of the Legal 500 US elite rankings. For more on the US, see our coverage of the Legal 500 US guide.

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Big law firms are betting on Boston – but does the market have room for more?

Firms that opened in Philadelphia 2024-25

Firm Office launched Total lawyers (partners)* Lateral hires
Kirkland & Ellis January 2025 7 (4) Allison Brown, Skadden, litigation, January 2025
Caroline Power, Dechert, litigation, April 2025
Burt Snell, litigation, Butler Snow, August 2025**
Kyle Victor, Hangley Aronchick, litigation, September 2025**
Polsinelli August 2024 26 (18) Sara Begley, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Kelly Bley, Holland & Knight, ESOP, August 2024
Valerie Brown, Holland & Knight, litigation
Craig Circosta, Holland & Knight, M&A
Megan Cribbs, Holland & Knight, M&A, August 2024**
James DelBello, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Dana Feinstein, Holland & Knight, employment, August 2024**
Kerry Halpern-Skoglund, Holland & Knight, employee benefits and executive compensation, August 2024
Marcy Hart, Holland & Knight, real estate, August 2024
Paul Jaskot, Holland & Knight, M&A, August 2024
Adria Lamba, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024**
John Martini, Holland & Knight, employee benefits and executive compensation, August 2024
Patrick McCabe, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Amy McVeigh, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Ryan Meadows, Holland & Knight, employee benefits and executive compensation, August 2024
Travis Nelson, Holland & Knight, M&A, August 2024
David Pardys, Holland & Knight, employee stock ownership plans (ESOP), August 2024
Nipun Patel, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Michael Peacock, Holland & Knight, M&A, August 2024
Rachel Shim, Holland & Knight, ESOP, August 2024
Andrew Soven, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
David Surbeck, Holland & Knight, ESOP, August 2024
Cory Thomas, Holland & Knight, employee benefits and executive compensation, August 2024
Eric Yoon, Holland & Knight, litigation, August 2024
Gary Clarke, ShopCore Properties, real estate, October 2024**
Christine Soares, Merck, energy, October 2024**

*Lawyer and partner numbers from firm website. Accurate at time of publication. 

**Lawyer joined as a partner from a non-partner role.

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Revolving Doors: Cleary launches London real estate arm as Simmons bulks up pensions team

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has made a decisive move into the UK real estate market, launching a London practice with the hire of Paul Hastings transactions partner Stephen Nicholas.

Nicholas joins Cleary as the firm’s first London real estate partner, alongside a team of lawyers from Paul Hastings, and will establish Cleary’s European real estate practice as part of a broader expansion of its private capital offering.

‘We’re thrilled to welcome Stephen to Cleary,’ said global managing partner Michael Gerstenzang. ‘As the firm’s first London-based partner in our Global Real Estate Practice, Stephen and his team represent an important broadening of our private capital offering across the firm.’

Meanwhile, Simmons & Simmons has made a splash in the pensions space, recruiting a five-strong de-risking team from DLA Piper. Legal 500 non-contentious pensions leading partner Amrit Mclean comes on board as global head of pensions de-risking, alongside four senior colleagues.

The team, set to start on 3 November, will significantly bolster Simmons’ pensions risk transfer expertise and deepen its bench for insurer clients.

Also in London, King & Spalding has welcomed former Travers Smith tax head Russell Warren into its corporate practice, with Hannah Manning stepping up internally to replace him at Travers.

Burges Salmon has strengthened its commercial and technology bench with the addition of privacy and data specialist Hamish Corner, who joins from Shoosmiths, where he led the firm’s privacy and data practice.

Elsewhere, Taylor Wessing has boosted its banking and finance team with its hire of leveraged finance partner Max Millington, who moves from Pinsent Masons.

Meanwhile, CMS has hired Daniel Kaufman, formerly lead counsel at BP Pulse, as a partner in its energy and infrastructure group. Debevoise & Plimpton has also been on the recruitment trail, adding corporate partners Hugo Laing and Rosamund Wood from Eversheds Sutherland to expand its insurance bench.

Private client-focused Wedlake Bell has also been active, hiring Sophie St John from Broadfield to advise international families and trustees on estate and succession planning.

Gateley Legal has brought in experienced disputes lawyer Ulrich Payne from offshore firm Appleby’s Cayman Islands office to its London team, while Brabners has recruited long-time DWF litigator Chris King into its Liverpool office.

In other moves, Kingsley Napley has appointed Mishcon de Reya partner Claire Green as its new chief legal officer, as former Mishcon duo Tom Murray and Simon Leaf depart to launch boutique Three Points Law.

White & Case has also made a noteworthy hire, bringing in Competition Appeal Tribunal judge Pinar Akman as a senior advisor in London.

In Europe, Eversheds Sutherland continues to expand in Luxembourg, hiring Sara Gerling from NautaDutilh and Codrina Constantinescu from Goodwin as partners in its banking and finance and funds teams respectively.

Pinsent Masons has also been busy on the continent, adding litigator and arbitrator Fernando Tallón Martínez from Ramón y Cajal Abogados to its Madrid office.

And finally, further overseas, Orrick has strengthened its energy and infrastructure platform with the arrival of Akira Takahashi from RWE Renewables in Tokyo, marking the firm’s fifteenth partner hire into its global practice this year.

Other partners who have joined the firm’s global energy and infrastructure practice in 2025 include projects advisor Adam Moncrieff, who joined from A&O Shearman in Singapore in May, and Anna Howell, a Legal 500 oil and gas leading partner who joined the firm’s London office from Gibson Dunn as global head of oil and gas last month.

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‘Comparing apples and pears’ – partners push back on mooted £2bn LLP tax raid

‘Harsh’, ‘comparing apples and pears’, or ‘the sensible thing to do’?

Partners and experts have given their views on reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to introduce a new tax on limited liability partnerships (LLPs) – and opinions are mixed, to say the least.

Partners in LLPs are not currently eligible to pay employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs), currently levied at 15%, as they are self-employed.

Under proposals reportedly mooted as part of the upcoming budget, however, partners would be required to pay NICs, with rates set slightly lower than 15%, according to reporting in The Times.

The policy could amount to a roughly 7% effective increase in tax for partners, and is forecasted by the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) think tank to affect 190,000 UK partners, and raise a total of £1.9bn.

Liesl Fichardt (pictured right), head of Quinn Emmanuel’s London international tax and regulatory disputes practice, told LB that the proposal overlooks fundamental differences between partners and employees: ‘They’re comparing apples with pears. Being a partner in an LLP structure is not the same as simply being employed by a company. There are other responsibilities that partners have. It’s a very different animal.’

Another tax partner at an international firm pointed to remuneration differences between LLPs and other structures that he believes justify different tax treatments.

‘It would seem harsh to have all the downsides of being self-employed and to have to pay the equivalent of employer’s NICs’

He highlighted that partnership profits are taxed on accounting profits, which are usually higher than actual distributions, meaning partners may pay tax on money they haven’t received. Additionally, he stated that required capital contributions, which might be around 10%, are taxed immediately, even though the partner only accesses the funds upon leaving the firm.

He added that, as partners are self-employed and receive distributions from profits rather than a fixed salary, their income is precarious: ‘You don’t know if you will receive a profit or a loss.’

Elizabeth Small, a tax partner at Forsters, noted disadvantages of self-employment such as withdrawing payments through the year on account of profits which may not materialise, and so being at risk of paying back in year distributions, or having given bank guarantees, potentially putting the family home on the line, and being liable for amounts that are not covered by insurance.

‘It would seem harsh to have all the downsides of being self-employed,’ she said, ‘and for the partnership to have to pay the equivalent of employer’s NICs.’

The sensible thing to do

On the other hand, former Clifford Chance partner and founder of tax think tank Tax Policy Associates Dan Neidle (pictured right) told LB that the equalisation of treatment is ‘the sensible thing to do.’

He gave short shrift to the argument that, as self-employed workers, law firm partners’ earnings are insecure: ‘If you’re an employee in a small startup, your position is inherently more precarious than a partner at A&O Shearman. It’s ridiculous, and frankly insulting, to compare the two. So why should the employee pay more tax? Let’s cut the special pleading. Total bollocks.’

Neidle acknowledged that concerns about the impact on the legal profession carry more weight with him, pointing to a September report by CenTax which, while supportive, estimates that behavioural responses to the policy would trim around 20% off the expected tax take.

‘Let’s cut the special pleading. Total bollocks’

He suggested that some older partners might retire and return as consultants, while others could consider relocating overseas — ‘and not just to Dubai’. Countries such as Belgium, he said, could offer a more favourable tax environment: ‘It’s been said to me that a partner working in London gets taxed more than just about anywhere else.’

Another tax partner also believes the change could drive away highly paid financial services workers: ‘When you look at asset managers, hedge funds, and the like, a 7% increase is so significant that it could make people reconsider whether the UK is right for them.’

Meanwhile, Small points to other possible effects that might stem from the tax change: ‘It might slow down partnership promotions and would also be an additional cost, which would either need to be passed on to clients, absorbed by the partners, or offset through savings else: including employing fewer staff.’

Corinne Staves, a partner at CM Murray specialising in partnership law, is one of many to suggest that the move could lead to partnerships incorporating, a move which she said may ‘supercharge’ private equity investment in professional services, as it is much easier for PE firms to invest in firms with a corporate structure.

‘The devil will be in the detail, and it could be a nasty devil or a good one’

Fichardt stressed, however, that any rush to judgement should be put on ice until such details are made available: ‘We have yet to see the details. The government would need to introduce legislation, and we will need to see how that would work in practice. The devil will be in the detail, and it could be a nasty devil or a good one. We don’t know yet.’

She cautions, however, that the targeted tax could make the UK’s famously byzantine tax system even more unwieldy: ‘There is huge room to simplify,’ she said. ‘We already have one of the most complex and burdensome tax systems in the UK.

‘Targeting certain groups will never fix that problem and my concern is that this will make it even worse.’

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Clifford Chance bets on Europe’s class actions boom with White & Case team raid

Clifford Chance has hired a 14-lawyer team (pictured) from White & Case led by prominent partner Alexandra Diehl, in one of the largest team moves in the German market in recent years.

The team will be based out of the firm’s Frankfurt office, and includes two W&C local partners: Priscilla Tatschner and Lisa Becker. Tatschner will join as a local partner, while Becker will join as a counsel.

The move comes amid what CC’s Michael Kremer, head of litigation and dispute resolution in Germany, describes as a ‘hugely growing market’ for collective redress and class actions across Europe, a development that he says has evolved far beyond the 2015 Dieselgate scandal, when Volkswagen was found to have installed software that manipulated emissions tests in its diesel cars, triggering global outrage, billions in fines and a flood of follow-on claims against other manufacturers accused of similar practices.

‘Initially everybody thought Dieselgate might be a one-off and nothing like that would come again,’ Kremer told Legal Business. ‘But now you see different types of data-privacy-related mass litigation, a lot of consumer protection claims, and product-liability actions, especially in pharma, financial services and insurance.’

Diehl, who was previously a senior associate at CC for eight years before moving to W&C in 2018, has experience advising on collective redress and mass tort claims in a range of industries, in particular in regulated sectors such as healthcare, life sciences, automotive and technology.

Clifford Chance said in a statement that the team will add to the firm’s expertise in these regulated industries.

Matthew Newick, the firm’s global head of litigation and dispute resolution, called the arrival ‘an important development for our global disputes practice, positioning us to deliver seamless, high-quality advice across jurisdictions.’

Stefan Sax, managing partner for Germany, added that the country is ‘rapidly becoming Europe’s epicentre for collective redress,’ describing the team move as one that ‘deepens our bench and enhances our ability to support clients facing high-stakes, cross-border disputes.’

The team will bring across several mass litigation matters, including the ongoing product liability mass claim for BioNTech relating to its Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty.

Diehl also has particular expertise in arbitration, where she is recognised by the Legal 500 as a next generation partner. Her hire complements CC’s established international arbitration strength in Germany, notably the ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement) practice led by Moritz Keller, former head of Freshfields’ Vienna arbitration practice.

‘Alexandra has arbitration experience that can strengthen collaboration with our exemplary arbitration team,’ Kremer said. ‘We can quickly mix teams and avoid silos, using our mass-litigation expertise alongside arbitration capability to offer clients a broader disputes solution.’

He added that Diehl’s group is bringing technical and AI-driven case-management tools, enhancing the efficiency of handling large-scale claims.

The Frankfurt expansion reflects CC’s ongoing investment in high-growth disputes areas, including collective redress, arbitration, restructuring and patent litigation. In recent years, the firm has made notable hires across Europe, the US and Asia, including Brad Woodhouse, who joined the firm’s Sydney office from national firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth as head of class actions for Australia this July.

‘We continue to invest where our clients need us to be and where we see potential for sustainable growth,’ said Kremer. ‘Mass litigation and arbitration are natural interface areas that allow us to leverage the firm’s platform globally.’

For Diehl, the move marks a return to familiar territory. ‘It’s a great pleasure to be returning to Clifford Chance,’ she said in a statement. ‘The collaborative culture and global platform provide the ideal environment to create advantage for our clients.’

Kremer concluded: ‘Mass litigation is here to stay, and we have the right team and platform to lead in that space.’

White & Case declined to comment.

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The £40bn club: LB100 push revenues to new high

The UK’s 100 largest law firms have broken through the £40bn revenue mark for the first time, with their combined turnover almost doubling over the past decade.

Total revenues across the LB100 climbed by more than £3bn during 2024-25 to reach £40.15bn – just 1% shy of double the £20.19bn generated by the group 10 years ago.

Ninety of the 100 firms saw fee income rise during 2024-25, with average growth across the group of 9.6% marginally down on last year’s equivalent figure of 10%. Forty one firms enjoyed double-digit growth compared with 53 in 2023-24.

Notably, 80% of the firms posting double-digit growth were drawn from the second 50, with 12% average growth across the bottom half of the LB100 outpacing the equivalent 7% increase for the top 50.

Disregarding the A&O Shearman merger, only three firms in the top 25 achieved double-digit growth in turnover – Linklaters (10.5%), Addleshaw Goddard (11.2%) and Kennedys (11.7%).

Despite this, the largest firms still dwarf the rest of the market, with the top 10 contributing 54% of all LB100 revenues, and the top 50 contributing 91%.

Broken down by firm type, the fastest growing firms were the regionals (see firm types below), with an average increase of 11.5%, some way ahead of the internationals, which pushed up revenues by an average of 6.3%.

Pinsent Masons saw revenue rise by 4.7% to a new record high of £680m over the year, a result senior partner Andrew Masraf (pictured) described as cause for celebration – while also acknowledging the scope for improvement.

‘We had record turnover last year, in a world which remains uncertain and complex. We don’t have a US business throwing a lot of revenue in our direction, so we celebrate the achievement of a year of record revenue. But we know our market and competitors continue to drive their own performance and that we need to continue to perform and grow.

The five fastest-growing firms in the LB100 were new model law firm Setfords (50.6%), personal injury practice Fletchers (37.2%), pensions specialist Sackers (35.3%), Welsh firm Hugh James (32.4%) and Stowe Family Law (29.8%).

Setfords and Stowe were two of four new entrants to the LB100 this year, alongside Scots duo Digby Brown and Morton Fraser MacRoberts, another firm whose growth was delivered by a merger.

Average revenue growth by firm type

Firm category Revenue growth
Regional firms 11.5%
London firms 10.7%
National firms 10.6%
International firms 6.3%

Smaller firms also outperformed their international rivals on profits growth, with average PEP growth for the second 50 standing at 8.9% – almost double the 4.6% average growth across the top half of the table.

Average PEP growth for the LB100 as a whole was 6.5%, significantly down on last year’s equivalent of 13%. Average PEP across the group rose to £916,000, up from £844,000.

This year, almost 75% of firms increased PEP – down from almost 90% last year, but significantly up on 2022-23, when less than half (47%) of firms increased profits.

National firm Blake Morgan, which has six offices across the UK, boosted PEP by 8% to £349,000 in 2024-25, against a 4.6% increase in revenue; however managing partner Mike Wilson (pictured) said PEP could have been higher still, but for the firm’s strategy of investing profit back into the business.

‘If we didn’t reinvest you’d see a much higher PEP, but we do invest. We have a balanced view, between keeping PEP at a reasonable level to attract talent, while at the same time investing into the business.’

‘What happens at the top end of the market percolates down to the levels of the market that we operate in. There are a lot more opportunities for law firms of our size. That manifests itself in talent coming onto the market, with people who are attracted to businesses such as ours. That is a key part of our strategy for growth.’

UK regional practices had the strongest year for average profit growth, with a 9.3% average increase outpacing international players and London firms.

Average profit growth by firm type

Firm category Profits growth
Regional firms 9.3%
International firms 6.4%
London firm 6.3%
National firms 3.3%

At Hogan Lovells, which put in one of the strongest performances of the international firms, with PEP up 9.1% to £2.4m, global corporate and finance head James Doyle (pictured) stressed the importance of adaptability in a fast-changing marketplace.

‘The market is changing constantly – last year felt like each quarter was different, with conditions shifting every few months, and volatility increased significantly during the first part of this year with different developments affecting the markets seemingly every two weeks,’ Doyle said. ‘The ability to adapt to different market cycles and keep your team busy throughout is essential. That’s how a healthy law firm operates.’

View the full table of LB100 financial results here.

*LB100 firms by category

Regional firms: Thorntons, Burness Paull, Brodies, Shepherd and Wedderburn, Fletchers Solicitors, Bond Turner, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, Birketts, Stevens & Bolton, Brabners, Capsticks, Michelmores, Foot Anstey, Walker Morris, JMW, Ashfords, Ward Hadaway, Cripps, RWK Goodman, Blake Morgan, Harrison Clark Rickerbys, Broadfield, Hugh James, Digby Brown, Morton Fraser MacRoberts

National firms: Burges Salmon, Devonshires, Keystone Law, Bevan Brittan, Mills & Reeve, gunnercooke, Ampa, Freeths, Browne Jacobson, Hill Dickinson, Weightmans, Keoghs, TLT, Taylor Rose, Irwin Mitchell, Thompsons, Shoosmiths, Gateley, Knights, Penningtons Manches Cooper, Trowers & Hamlins, Leigh Day, Clarke Willmott, Slater and Gordon, Setfords, Stowe Family Law

London firms: Sacker & Partners, Mishcon de Reya, Kingsley Napley, Lewis Silkin, Fox Williams, Wedlake Bell, Howard Kennedy, Bristows, Macfarlanes, Charles Russell Speechlys, Stewarts, Farrer & Co, RPC, Harbottle & Lewis, Travers Smith, Russell-Cooke, Forsters, Winckworth Sherwood, Fladgate, Wiggin

International firms: Freshfields, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Slaughter and May, A&O Shearman, Hogan Lovells, Womble Bond Dickinson, Norton Rose Fulbright, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Kennedys, Osborne Clarke, Stephenson Harwood, DWF, Addleshaw Goddard, HFW, Watson Farley & Williams, Simmons & Simmons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Bird & Bird, Taylor Wessing, Ashurst, DAC Beachcroft, Gowling WLG, Pinsent Masons, CMS, Clyde & Co, Fieldfisher, Withers

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White & Case London partner promotions triple as firm makes up 45 worldwide

White & Case has promoted nine lawyers to its London partnership – a threefold increase on last year when it made up three new partners in the capital.

The London additions come as part of the firm’s wider 45-strong annual promotion round, which are spread across 12 practices areas and 20 offices worldwide.

London project finance, real estate and M&A gain two partners apiece, with international arbitration, debt finance and the office of general counsel each gaining one new partner from January. Of the nine partners promoted in London, four are former trainees of the firm (pictured left to right: Victoria Delacey, James Hart, Irina Fogarty, Ben Morrison).

‘The spread of practices in London is a reflection of firm’s priorities, with a focus on partners advising clients in key growth areas like debt finance and mergers and acquisitions,’ said the firm’s London office executive partner Inigo Esteve.

‘In the last five years [2025 included] we’ve promoted 37 lawyers to partnership organically, which I think is testament to the fact that London is ever present in terms of its importance to the global firm,’ he added.

Adding lateral recruitment into the mix in London, the firm has also gained 45 new partners in the capital laterally since 2021.

Looking beyond London, the firm’s global promotion round is up on last year’s figure of 37, with the number of new partners made up in both Asia Pacific and EMEA also increasing. In Asia the firm has made up five new partners, with EMEA gaining 28 – up from two and 22 respectively last year.

‘We have a hugely global way of serving our clients. We make certain that we’re turning up everywhere for them as much as we can,’ London-based executive committee member Carina Radford said.

The firm has also made up 12 new partners in the US, which shows ‘consistent growth in the most profitable legal market in the world,’ Radford added.

 

The new partners are:

Americas

  • Andrea Amulic
  • Isabella Bellera Landa
  • Patrick Conlon
  • Amy Conners
  • Russell Gould
  • Jane Kim
  • Ben Ludewig
  • Jessica Lynd
  • Luisa Muskus
  • Kelly Newman
  • Evan Rahn
  • Samantha Rozell

EMEA 

  • Alexander Berlin-Jarhamn
  • Heidi Blomqvist
  • Mathias Bogusch
  • Joshua Cohen
  • Nick Crawford
  • Joshua Crawley
  • Victoria Delacey
  • Mahmoud Ezz
  • Irina Fogarty
  • Nick Hallemeesch
  • Marika Harjula
  • James Hart
  • Alexandre Hublet
  • Anna Lilley
  • Pietro Magnaghi
  • Claire-Marie Mallad
  • Sandile Mathebula
  • Benjamin Morrison
  • Moritz Müller-Buttmann
  • David Murray
  • Tolu Obamuroh
  • Gustav Ollinger
  • Paul Oumade-Singh
  • Alessandro Picchi
  • Albrecht Schaefer
  • Lulama Selele
  • Philip Vavalidis

Asia-Pacific

  • Nathaniel Crowley
  • Manley Leung
  • Paul Marshall
  • Shifeng Ni
  • Girish Rao

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‘It’s about being where our clients need us to be’ – Reed Smith launches in Saudi Arabia

Reed Smith has today (20 October) announced its expansion into Saudi Arabia, as the firm opens in Riyadh, with EME managing partner Gregor Pryor seconded to join three new hires from local firm Mahassni & Co.

The new hires include Emad Alshaikhi, who served at Mahassni & Co as both co-managing partner and leader of the firm’s tier 2 Legal 500-ranked dispute resolution practice. He joins Reed Smith alongside a US-qualified senior associate and a government relations officer.

Casey Ryan, Reed Smith’s global managing partner, told Legal Business the office opening was client-led: ‘It’s about being where our clients need us to be, and getting to work with them on matters of import in the region, closely aligned with our sector strategy, whether that’s entertainment and media, transportation, or energy and natural resources.’

In a sign of the importance the firm is placing on its Riyadh office, its 34th around the world, Reed Smith’s EME managing partner Gregor Pryor will be seconded from London to Riyadh to help grow the office and integrate it into the firm’s global platform.

‘Like a lot of other firms, we’ve realised this is a region for growth. We’ve seen strong growth in our Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices and have clients that are active and looking to grow further in the Kingdom. It makes perfect sense for us to be there,’ Pryor, who flew out to Riyadh at the weekend, told LB.

The office will begin with Pryor and the three new hires, and Pryor said the firm would look to expand in the region: ‘We’re going to grow the business organically in Saudi Arabia. We’re starting relatively small, but we’ll be expanding and capitalising on the sectors where we’re already strong.’

Pryor, who will stay in Saudi Arabia ‘as long as it takes to get the office going’, believes the firm’s strength in sectors such as entertainment, transportation and energy dovetails with the work created by Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s ambitious strategic plan to diversify its economy and reduce dependence on oil.

Pryor believes that the plan has already had a dramatic effect on the country: ‘I’ve been in and out of Saudi Arabia throughout my career, and I’ve seen the country almost completely transformed beyond recognition. This opportunity to participate, working in such a positive environment, focused on effectively growing and transforming the business of the country, is enormously exciting.’

The launch places Reed Smith alongside firms including Pinsent Masons, King & Spalding, Akin, BCLP, Simmons & Simmons and Freshfields, in opening offices in the Kingdom this year.

The influx follows a 2023 liberalisation of regulations in the Kingdom, which permitted overseas firms to open offices without a local partner as long as various conditions are met.

Predictably, a war for talent has followed the entry of so many firms. Pryor acnowledged that the hiring battle is ‘intense’, but stated that the firm’s culture and ambition would appeal to the right profile of lawyer: ‘There’s a lot of movement and fluidity in the market, for sure. But we are appealing to people who want to stay in a business for the long term and build things.’

The office is the firm’s third in the Middle East, alongside Abu Dhabi, which opened 47 years ago in 1978, and Dubai, which opened in 2007. The firm’s Middle East headcount now stands at over 25 lawyers, including seven partners.

It is also the firm’s third office opening this calendar year, following debuts in Atlanta and Denver in January and February, respectively.

Ryan stated that the firm was in ‘growth mode’ at the start of the year, but she clarified that this growth is purposeful:

‘We’ve added just over 125 lawyers so far this year, and those hires are about strengthening our capabilities where our clients need us most. We’re not pursuing growth for its own sake. It’s strategic and thoughtful growth, focused on aligning with client demand.’

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Revolving Doors: Gibson Dunn hires Latham energy M&A partner as Kirkland PE partner heads to Willkie

Gibson Dunn has tapped Latham & Watkins for energy M&A partner Simon Tysoe, a Legal 500 leading partner in London for oil and gas.

Tysoe has moved after a decade at Latham, having previously spent almost 13 years at legacy Herbert Smith Freehills, where he became a partner in 2010. Tysoe’s recent mandates include co-leading transatlantic teams on high-profile deals for Ineos Energy and Denham Capital Management.

Gibson Dunn said in a statement that Tysoe’s hire is part of a ‘strategic expansion in the energy and infrastructure space’ following on from the July 2023 hires of London projects and infrastructure duo Ben Shorten and Trinh Chubbock from then-Shearman & Sterling.

His arrival also comes hot on the heels of the departures of Gibson Dunn’s oil and gas co-head Anna Howell and counsel Mitasha Chandok, who both joined Orrick last month, with Chandok being made up to partner in the process.

‘We are delighted to welcome Simon to Gibson Dunn,’ said London co-head Rob Carr. ‘He is a highly respected figure in the global energy M&A space, and his deep industry knowledge makes him an exceptional addition to our team.’

Meanwhile, Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired London private equity partner Hamesh Khatkar from Kirkland & Ellis.

Khatkar, who has frequently advised Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and private equity firm Silver Lake, has joined after four years at Kirkland, having joined the firm as a partner after more than five years as an associate at Simpson Thacher.

Gavin Gordon, chair of Willkie’s European PE practice, said: ‘Hamesh brings substantial experience advising the world’s leading sponsors and sovereign funds on all types of corporate transactions across the UK and Europe, and his practice aligns well with our market-leading London private equity team.’

Elsewhere, Milbank has launched a European real estate finance practice with the hire of Paul Hastings London partners Miles Flynn and Rehan Hanif.

Flynn has moved after 16 years at Paul Hastings, while Hanif has moved after two years, having joined in a lateral move from Kirkland in 2023.

The two have a strong working relationship and, in recent months, have co-led the Paul Hastings team that advised alternative credit manager Arini on a £186m refinancing and Oaktree on a €200m loan-on-loan warehouse facility from J.P. Morgan.

Milbank chairman Scott Edelman described the launch of the real estate practice as a ‘natural next step in Milbank’s global growth strategy’.

The firm has also been active in Singapore, hiring partner Maurice Conway into its global corporate/M&A group.

Conway has joined Milbank after four years at Kirkland, having previously had stints at Latham and legacy Allen & Overy, where he began his career. He brings experience in cross-border M&A and PE, across industries including healthcare, technology, consumer goods and infrastructure.

Back in London, Simmons & Simmons has bolstered its PE offering with the addition of London corporate partner Gemma Phillips, who has decamped from Addleshaw Goddard.

Philips, a mid-market PE specialist, has joined after seven years at Addleshaws, becoming partner in 2021. She had previously spent time at Travers Smith and PwC Legal.

Charles Russell Speechlys has recruited Matthew Griffin, Mayer Brown’s head of funds and investment management Europe.

Griffin has moved three and a half years after joining Mayer Brown from White & Case, where he also served as head of funds and investment management. ‘I look forward to working with my new colleagues to build a disruptive international funds practice,’ Griffin said. 

Morgan Lewis has strengthened its healthcare and life sciences offering with the addition of Arnold & Porter partner Jackie Mulryne.

Mulryne has switched firms after two decades at Washington DC-headquartered Arnold & Porter. She advises on a range of regulatory, policy, and compliance matters across the pharmaceutical, medical technology, cosmetics, and food sectors.

Meanwhile, the lateral market in Milan shows no sign of slowing down. Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has tapped leading Italian firm BonelliErede for a five-strong banking and finance team led by Emanuela Da Rin, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for borrower-side banking and finance. The team also includes one of counsel and three associates.

HSF Kramer’s Milan office head, Laura Orlando, said the hires continue the firm’s strategic growth in Italy: ‘In recent years, the Milan office has steadily evolved towards a full-service model, with lateral hires and promotions reflecting this progression. The addition of Emanuela and her team is another step forward in that strategy.’

In Luxembourg, Debevoise & Plimpton has hired funds partner Veronica Aroutiunian from Loyens & Loeff.  She brings particular experience in retail and evergreen vehicles.

Meanwhile in Edinburgh, Brodies has hired disputes partner Graeme MacLeod from CMS Scotland. A CMS lifer, MacLeod has moved after 23 years and brings experience in technology, class actions and crisis management. 

Finally, King & Spalding has formally entered the Australian market with a new office in Sydney led by office managing partner Darren Gardner and including partners Damien Bailey, Jennifer Chambers, Luke Edwards and Darren Murphy.

All five partners were already at King & Spalding, with energy partner Murphy the most recent recruit having joined in July from Jones Day.

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TfL announces new £120m panel with 19 firms making the cut

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the 19 law firms appointed to its new panel, valued at £120m (excluding VAT), with the agreement set to be in place for a minimum of four years with the option to extend it by up to two years.

The legal panel was last updated in 2019, and this year keeps the same structure, dividing the work into eight separate categories: employment law, major commercial matters, rail industry matters, routine commercial and real estate matters (contentious and non-contentious), housing matters, complex property and commercial development matters, major consents matters, town and planning, and highways matters.

Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds Sutherland came out on top this time, with seven appointments each across the eight distinct areas.

The majority of the law firms appointed this year are reappointments, including:

Five of these 12 firms were new appointments to the panel in 2019: Addleshaw Goddard, Burges Salmon, Stephenson Harwood, Pinsent Masons, and Womble Bond Dickinson.

Seven firms, meanwhile, won new appointments:

Of these, Bird & Bird has secured a position on major commercial matters, as well as Sharpe Pritchard and Mills and Reeve. Freeths and TLT were appointed to routine commercial and real estate matters, Browne Jacobson to housing, and Town Legal to town and country planning. 

Each of the new firms was appointed to one lot only.

The firms not returning to the panel are Broadfield (formerly BDB Pitmans), Dentons and DLA Piper.

TfL has undertaken a number of significant projects in the last six years, most notably the completion of the Elizabeth Line, which opened in 2022. Stephenson Harwood advised on the delivery of Crossrail, the infrastructure supporting the new line.

Recent engagement by some of the firms reappointed to the panel include Eversheds Sutherland, which advised TfL on its £2.8bn competitive procurement proceedings for new media partners last September. Global and JCDecaux were appointed, and will handle all advertising across all TfL’s transport infrastructure over the next eight years.

The following month Ashurst successfully advised TfL on its new eight-year contract to handle the operation and maintenance of the DLR, with KeolisAmey, which has run the franchise for the past decade.

Meanwhile, in July of this year Burges Salmon advised TfL on its procurement for a power purchase agreement (PPA), which was awarded to EDF Energy Renewables Limited, to build a new solar facility near Longfield, Essex, with 20% of its output guaranteed to TfL.

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Former Paul Hastings London head joins White & Case in double partner move

Paul Hastings has seen two more senior departures in London, with White & Case recruiting a tax duo including former City chair Arun Birla.

Birla, who also held the role of global second managing partner, was chair of the US firm’s London office from 2018 to October 2022.

He is moving to White & Case alongside fellow tax specialist Jiten Tank, with both of them having spent over 15 years at the firm.

Birla’s move marks another exit of a London leadership figure for Paul Hastings, on the back of London co-chair Mei Lian’s departure to Linklaters this summer.

After succeeding Birla in late 2022, Lian had co-chaired the London office alongside fellow finance partner Ross Anderson, who is now sole London chair.

Both Birla and Tank have significant experience of handling the tax aspects of cross-border M&A, private equity and finance transactions, while Tank also brings with him particular experience of securitisations.

The latest departures for Paul Hastings come after real estate finance partners Miles Flynn and Rehan Hanif joined Milbank yesterday (13 October). Flynn had spent nearly 17 years at the firm, while Hanif joined from Kirkland & Ellis in 2023. Other notable recent exits include infrastructure partners Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson, who left for Freshfields in February after just two years at the firm.

In a statement, Paul Hastings said: ‘We wish Arun and Jiten well. Revenue in London is projected to be up 20%-25% this year and 70% over the past two years. We intend to continue to build in London at the top of the market, including in UK tax.’

In the US, the firm has bolstered its tax platform with a series of laterals over the past year, including Sherrie Xie from Kirkland & Ellis in New York and Alex Farr from McDermott Will & Schulte in Dallas, as well as two partners in Washington DC – Daniel Nicholas from Weil Gotshal & Manges and real estate investment trust specialist Christopher Mangin from Vinson & Elkins.

It is understood that the firm intends to build a strong UK tax platform to complement its UK and global transactional practices.

Sang Ji, the head of White & Case’s global tax practice said: ‘Arun and Jiten bring a unique and differentiated combination of deep expertise in transactional and tax structuring, commercial acumen, strong client relationships and a stellar reputation in the market.’

White & Case also added to its London tax team earlier this year with the hire of Latham & Watkins partner Catherine Hill.

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Revolving Doors: Proskauer, Mayer Brown and Pinsents hire in PE as A&O Shearman loses German arbitration head

Martin Graham has joined Proskauer’s private equity and M&A team in London, returning to private practice after 18 years at Oaktree Capital Management, where he was most recently a managing director.

Graham has experience leading investment teams across a range of PE strategies, with expertise in distressed debt investing, structured equity, hybrid capital, direct lending, M&A, restructuring, and more.

‘Martin understands how to manage risk and deliver results in a dynamic deal environment and will help us provide the insight and execution our clients need,’ said Steven Davis, head of Proskauer’s private equity and M&A transactions group – Europe, and head of the London office.

Across the capital, Mayer Brown has added Tessa Agar to its corporate and private equity team in London. Agar, who works with clients ranging from technology firms to healthcare companies, joins Mayer Brown from Goodwin where she spent nearly nine years and made partner in 2022.

Pinsent Masons has made a double hire this week, with ECM partner Nicholas Holmes joining from Ashurst and Dinsesh Banai moving over from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer to lead its US securities practice.

Holmes will lead Pinsent’s ECM team having previously held the same role at Ashurst. Banai, who spent six years at Sullivan & Cromwell before joining legacy HSF in 2010, has a practice that spans both equity and debt capital markets. He will work with Holmes to advise on IPOs, as well as with Pinsents’ banking and finance team to advise on US facets of international financial mandates.

Tax partner Katie Leah has joined Skadden in London, leaving Goodwin after 12 years after joining the partnership there in 2019. Leah advises on tax aspects of PE transactions, real estate and capital markets in the UK, US and on cross-border matters.

Meanwhile, Ashurst has bolstered its disputes capabilities as Harriet Jones-Fenleigh joins the London team from Norton Rose Fulbright, where her practice focused on commercial and financial disputes.

A Legal 500 leading partner in banking litigation: investment and retail, Jones-Fenleigh spent five years as a barrister at Fountain Court Chambers before joining NRF in 2013.

Morgan Lewis has added Christian Tuddenham from Jenner & Block. Tuddenham, who represents financial institutions across the globe in commercial litigation cases, deepens Moran Lewis’ disputes offering.

Morrison Foerster has strengthened its fintech offering with the hire of Joshua Kaplan, a financial services and technology partner from Wilson Sonsini. Prior to his five years at Wilsons, Kaplan held in-house roles at fintech company Checkout as well as Merrill Lynch in London.

Finally in London, Charles Russell Speechlys has hired Libby Elliott into its corporate, restructuring and insolvency team. Elliott joins from Interpath Advisory, where she was a managing director, and previously spent time as a partner at Stephenson Harwood and Dentons, before joining KPMG in 2019.

In Scotland, Tom Usher has joined Burness Paull from Macfarlanes as as senior adviser. Usher brings with him over three decades of UK and EU competition law experience.

On the continent, A&O Shearman has lost the head of its German arbitration practice after Anna Masser left the firm to establish boutique firm Manner Masser alongside fellow arbitration specialist Simon Manner, who established his boutique firm Manner Disputes last year, which is merging into Manner Masser.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has expanded its Italian offering as Emanuela Da Rin joins the firm’s Milan office to lead its banking and finance practice. Da Rin joins from leading Italian firm BonelliErede where she spent 20 years covering a broad range of mandates including debt finance, corporate and acquisition finance and restructuring. This new team, comprising of Da Rin, a counsel and three associates will support the firm’s existing finance partner in Milan, Simone Egidi.

BonelliErede has added three partners to its Milan headquaters, with the arrival of Maria Cristina Storchi, Andrea Novarese and Francesco Pirisi. Storchi  joins the firm’s M&A partice while Novarese and Pirisi both join the restructuring and banking and finance team. All three move across from  Italian firm Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici.

In the Middle East, CMS has hired Gabriella Savastano as a partner in its banking and finance practice in Dubai, where she will act on regulatory matters such as conduct of business, regulatory compliance and anti-money laundering. Savastano returns to CMS after a brief spell at Linklaters, where she was head of financial services regulation in Dubai.

Also in Dubai, Clyde & Co has hired Janet Gooi, a tax lawyer who will lead the firm’s tax offering in the region. Gooi will join Clydes as a partner from Al Tamini where she spent seven years advising PE groups, investment funds and high-net-worth individuals.

Finally, Weil has added another Latham lawyer to its Frankfurt practice as it continues to build out its PE practice, hiring two former Latham partners last week. Andreas Holzgreve, who was an associate at Latham for six years, joins Weil as a partner.

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Revealed: The UK’s top general counsel 2025

Heavyweight GCs including HSBC’s Bob Hoyt, Vodafone’s Maaike de Bie, BT’s Sabine Chalmers and BAE Systems’ Ed Gelsthorpe are among more than 100 high profile in-house names recognised in the latest UK GC Powerlist.

The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist UK: 2025, which offically launched yesterday with a reception at Kennedys’ City headquarters, includes 122 of the most senior in-house lawyers in the UK.

General counsel, chief legal officers and heads of legal at some of the biggest and most dynamic legal teams in the country have made the grade for inclusion in this year’s Powerlist, which recognises the legal leaders who have made particularly significant contributions to their company or industry sector over the last year in the eyes of peers, the private practice partners they instruct and the L500 GC Powerlist research team.

Running legal teams that range in size from single digits to seven hundred, the Powerlist includes GCs from a range of industry sectors.

Those in the financial services sector fared particularly  well, with 20 legal chiefs from banks, asset managers and fintechs making the grade –  nearly 20% of the full list.

Among the heavyweights returning to the list are HSBC chief legal officer Hoyt, UBS investment bank and EMEA GC Simon Croxford and Group GC at Barclays, Stephen Shapiro. New additions from the financial services sector include Aberdeen GC Rushad Abadan, Volt’s CLO Stephanie Lopes and Metro Bank’s Stephanie Wallace.

Thirteen tech company legal heads have made it onto the list this year, while insurance and consumer goods are also well-represented with 12 and 10 GCs included respectively. New additions include Capita GC Claire Denton,  QBE Europe’s CLO Alexandra Smith, as well as Spencer Collins, CLO at Arm.

Women make up slightly more than half of the list, with 63 of the 122 places. They also make up just over half of the 55 new additions to the list, with the 28 new female Powerlisters including ITV GC Kyla Mullins, GC of the Sizewell C nuclear project Sharmila Sylvester and Klarna CLO Boudien Moerman.

Many of the GCs included  are from some the biggest companies in the world. Some 35 of those on the Powerlist work at companies that reported global revenues of at least £10bn in their latest financial reports, while four are from companies posting revenue of at least £50bn: Citi, PepsiCo, The Walt Disney Company and Unilever.

Sharon Blackman OBE, managing director and global head of services legal at Citi and Maria Varsellona, CLO at Unilever, also appeared on the previous UK Powerlist, but Joanne Averiss, GC Europe, Africa, Middle East and Pakistan at PepsiCo and Nicola Burns at the Walt Disney Company were new additions this year.

Forty three of the GCs work at FTSE 100 companies, 77 work at companies listed on the LSE, with the Powerlist also including GCs from companies listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ and the SIX Swiss exchange.

Other well known legal heads on the 2025 Powerlist include BP’s Michael Sosso, Carlyle’s Heather Mitchell, Centrica’s Raj Roy, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Clare Wardle, Compass Group’s Alison Yapp, Diageo’s recently appointed head Randall Ingber, and E.ON UK’s Kirin Kalsi.

Click here to see the full UK GC Powerlist 2025, including interviews with many of the GCs on the list

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The $3bn McDermott Will & Schulte merger: four things the data tells us

The headline figures for the McDermott Will & Schulte merger speak for themselves – combined revenue of $3bn, and more than 1,750 lawyers across 27 offices in the US and Europe.

But behind those top-level numbers, Legal 500 data offers deeper insight into the rationale behind the merger, key areas of strength, and also, perhaps most importantly – what clients think. Here are five key data takeaways.

Schulte was punching above its weight in the US 

In its US homeland, pre-merger McDermott Will & Emery had 47 rankings, with seven top-tier rankings.

While Schulte was significantly smaller, with just two US offices compared to 16 for McDermott, the firm had 20 US rankings, including two top-tier rankings, including the jewel in its crown – alternative/hedge funds.

Merging with Schulte gave McDermott its London top-tier debut

And that strength in hedge funds is what Schulte really brings to the table in the UK.

While legacy McDermott had a total of 18 London rankings, ranging from corporate tax to M&A and capital markets, none were higher than tier 3.

Schulte had just four London rankings, but its top-tier hedge funds team has brought a market-leading practice to the merged firm.

Schulte was also the clients’ top choice for funds

Legal 500 data also offers unique insight into what clients think about the service they get from firms, and the figures underline the premium service that Schulte’s hedge funds team offers.

The practice is a clear leader across almost all client service metrics, receiving the highest scores for seven of the ten metrics that Legal 500 asks clients about – industry/commercial knowledge; quality of partners and quality of associates; efficiency; profile in the sector; billing transparency and value for work done.

McDermott also places among the top five highest-scoring firms for a number of metrics, including acquisition finance – value for work done, international arbitration – profile in the sector, and high yield – communication and matter management: high yield.

McDermott is bigger in Europe than you think

McDermott has 35 rankings across Europe – 17 in Germany, 12 in France, four in Italy and two in Belgium. Its best rankings include a top-tier ranking for healthcare and life sciences in France, and area in which it is also ranked in tier two in Germany.

The firm also has tier 2 rankings for tax in France and Italy, and its most prominent practitioners on the continent include two tax Hall of Famers – Niels Dejean in Paris and Carlo Maria Paolella in Milan.

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The client satisfaction scores in this article are compiled from referee responses collected during Legal 500 research. Benchmark scoring for our other criteria (lawyer/team quality, and sector and industry knowledge) and other sub-criteria is also available. If you would like to know more, please contact [email protected].

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A&O Shearman’s hard reset: 170 partner departures and counting

More than 170 legacy Allen & Overy (A&O) and Shearman & Sterling partners have left or retired since the two firms’ merger was announced in May 2023, with more than a third of these exits taking place in the US, according to Legal Business research.

Departures tracked by LB from Companies House filings and other data show that 130 partners have left since the union went live in May 2024. This means that around one in six of those who were partners at the firm when the merger went live, have since gone.

The overwhelming majority of these are from legacy A&O, with 101 exits from the UK-headquartered firm since May 2024, plus an additional 29 from the Shearman partnership.

Figures in the LB Global 100 2024 show this represents around 16% of the c.800-strong partnership when A&O Shearman was created, with a similar percentage leaving from each legacy partnership.

Eighty partners have left since the start of 2025, three quarters of which (61) are ex-A&O. Of the additional 50 partners to have left since May 2024, 40 were ex-A&O.

Significantly, 113 partners have left since September 2024, when A&O Shearman announced that it would be cutting 10% of its global partnership. 

This equates to two-thirds of the 170 departures tracked since the merger was announced and 86% of those tracked since it went live in May last year.

This volume outpaces the 10% figure by some measure, with the exits also including a number of well-regarded partners and former practice heads, such as antitrust specialist David Higbee in Washington DC, who recently quit for Paul Weiss with two other partners.

Regional breakdown

Breaking down the exits by region shows a sharp concentration in London and the US, mirroring the footprint of the legacy partnerships.

With 34 departures since the merger completed, London has seen more exits than any other city around the world, accounting for more than a quarter of all departures since May 2024. Some 26 of these exits came from the legacy UK firm’s London HQ.

The proportion of departures rises in the US, with legacy A&O seeing 38 partners leave since the union across the pond – more than a third of its total.

Overall, there have been 55 US departures from the combined A&O Shearman since the merger – meaning the US represents 42% of all 130 exits since the deal went live.

New York has seen 31 departures, the overwhelming majority of which (26) are legacy A&O, with Washington DC seeing 17 departures – nine ex-Shearman (including Higbee), and eight from legacy A&O. The remaining exits are in other offices in the US.

Destination firms

Although individual remuneration packages are not known, at least 75 partners leaving since May last year have taken up roles at other global 100 firms, with 66 joining firms with higher average PEP than the $2.6m figure reported by A&O Shearman for the 2024-25 financial year.

The main beneficiaries have been rival UK and US firms, including Orrick, Proskauer and Paul Weiss. Other departees have joined smaller firms, gone in-house, retired or are not currently practising.

Practice area trends

Looking at the exits by practice, with 25 departures, the banking and finance practice has seen the highest number of partner exits since the merger went live, with a further nine partners leaving in capital markets.

At 17 exits, corporate and M&A has also seen a significant number of departures, with many joining US firms in Europe. Sixteen disputes partners have left, including arbitrators, while regulatory and restructuring practices have seen seven exits apiece.

A&O has never provided any practice or geographic breakdown of its planned partnership cuts.

The scale of partner exits over the period since May 2024 significantly outstrips the merged firm’s close rivals such as Freshfields and Linklaters in London and globally.

Commenting on the moves one former partner said: ‘Partner exits are always inevitable when two different firms with different ethos merge.’

A legal recruiter added: ‘There’s always a bit of internal sorting and any time there’s a merger there’s instability. A big merger like that requires at least a few years to sort out.’

It hasn’t all been exits though. Since the merger went live, A&O Shearman has also added a steady stream of new partners globally. The firm has made 25 lateral partner hires worldwide since May 2024 and has also promoted 73 to its partnership – 40 in May 2024 and a further 33 in May 2025.

A&O Shearman declined to comment.

*All infographics based on data from May 2024